History of Shona Sculpture

Over the last fifty or sixty years Shona Sculpture, as an art form, has become established in Zimbabwe. A country located in Southern Africa. New sculptors can call upon established sculptors as their mentors. And so a tradition is born.

Whereas a lot of what is produced is there to satisfy the tourist market. There are more established Artists producing highly original and beautiful pieces. But you shouldn’t dismiss the those cheaper forms as these all have to be individually carved and all will have that spirit of Africa in their design. A short history of Shona Sculpture

Where to find them

So what are these sculptures all about and where can you find them?

The Zimbabwe sculptors believe that every rock and stone has a spirit within. It’s then the sculptors’ skill to reveal that spirit. To fashion the stone or rock to show us its hidden beauty.

You can find sculptures to buy by going here Great Shona Sculpture. There’s always a turnover of stock and because they’re individually made you might find a particular item is no longer in stock. But don’t worry there’s always more quality sculptures arriving all the time. so there’s never a shortage.

The Raw Materials

Zimbabwe outs blessed with s geological feature called the “Great Dyke” which runs through Zimbabwe and it’s where’s all the fabulously colored stone and rock is found. Not just any old rock. These are rocks with different properties and colors. Some with many swirling colors which the artist can use in his or her designs.

The more upmarket designs look really majestic in house or office. And because they’re made from rock they work really well in a garden setting as well. And they won’t be affected by the weather either. Just find a suitable position and let them blend in with all the natural foliage.

Above all these sculptures are personal, choose the one that best appeals to you and makes you smile.

iphones do it too

Did you know that you can charge your iPhone wirelessly? Neither did I. It turns out that you can by a kit, like the ones here Wireless iphone Phones and Andriod Phones That allow you to turn your iPhone into a wireless charging handset.

So the question is, why bother? Well I, like most people, have my phone with me at all times. And I spend long periods in the kitchen, home office and watching a bit of tv. What I did was convert the iPhone to charge wirelessly, then put charging pads in each room where I spend time. The charging pads aren’t very expensive.

Solves two problems

Where did I put my iphone? and Does it have enough charge if I’m setting off someplace?

So when I put my phone down I automatically place out on a pad. And this solves problem one. The charging pads are in fixed locations around the house. I know where the charging stations are, so I know where my phone is. Not like the good old days where I left it randomly all over the house.

When I’m on my way out, grab my phone which all the while has bee charing on one of my many charge pads. So my phone is constantly getting charged when in engrossed in something else. And that solves problem number two.

Putting the phone on a pad becomes a habit in no time at all.

Last but not Least

And I almost forgot, I like most people, use my iPhone as my alarm clock. So, you guessed it, I put a charger beside my bed on our bedside table. That means by time I get up in the morning, my phone is fully charged. And I just grab it and go. No cables to put in and take out.

How does wireless charging work

It’s a very neat solution and all made possible by something called induction. You can read more about that here wireles charging how it works But you don’t need to be a scientist to use this technology. And best of all you don’t alter the phone in any way. So there’s no warranty issues.

Adding Wireless to the iphone

There’s a card like thing. About the same size as a business card, with a short cable conning out of it. The cable plugs into the phone and you leave it connected all the time. The card is the thing that picks up the charge for the iPhone. This neatly folds onto the back of the phone and sticks to it.

That’s it. It takes less than a minute to fit. Just a brilliant idea which works.

Tents for large Parties

If you’re searching for a tent for a large family then you would be best to consider a large tent that’s between two or three persons more than the number of people in your party.

Tents come in all shapes and sizes and these days there’s a plethora of designs to choose from, some better than others.

The days where all tents looked the same is long gone. Tents are both more practical and almost cosy inside. The really good tents come with an inner liner that helps deal with any condensation from the occupants, at night. keeping warm

But always at a premium is space. Just like our homes, this tend to fill up rapidly and requires constantly decluttering, to keep on to of things. The same is true for tents.

Get Space

A tent for five people is just that. Enough room for it’s occupants to sleep in at night with very little space for storage or anything else. For this reason you should go to a bigger tent. So for 4 people get a 6 birth. For 5 people go for a 7 birth or even better an 8 birth tent. There’s some good with man tents here best tents suitable for persons

Larger tents will provide more space for the things you you’ve brought with you, so you can keep them inside the tent and also provide plenty of space for the occupants to move around in freely, without clambering over other people.

Larger tents tend to come with a porch. Which is an area by the main entrance but that can be sealed off from the main tent. These are great for stowing muddy boots and wet clothes. avoiding mud

Larger tents require more hands to assemble and take down. Sometimes taking down and packing away can be more challenging. Remember this in mind when selecting a tent. Some practice runs, before you set off, with your chosen tent is s very good idea.

Are Tripods Old Fashioned

A camera tripod puts you in control of the shot. Sometimes seen as a burden, sometimes as overkill but it really is a very important piece of equipment which often gets overlooked. In these days of high ISO, it’s easy to dismiss the tripod as old fashioned and past its sell-by-date. But nothing could be further from the truth.

A tripod allows you to set up the camera in an ideal position and in an ideal location allowing you to fix the camera’s position and orientation. This giving you control over the image you’re about to take. Why is this important?

Tripods equals Control

Well when your taking hand held shots with a heavy SLR camera and you stumble upon something special (right lighting, right exposure, right composition) and your asked to take that shot again. You’ve got no way of reproducing that shot. You don’t no how you produced it in the first place, it was just a lucky guess that paid off. Bottom line is – you weren’t in control and that’s incredibly amateur.

A tripod allows you to fix the camera’s position in space, consistently. You still have to know how to set up the tripod and the camera when taking a photo shoot. But that gets easier with practice. And if you take notes during the shoot, that’s when you start to become more accomplished photographer, a semi-pro.

Practice Makes Perfect

Obviously the more experienced you become the less formal you have to be. Because as your knowledge and skill grows your experience of how to set a camera on a tripod becomes second nature. But in the beginning you build up that knowledge slowly but surely. And as you practice, your confidence grows.

When using photographic lighting, having a camera in a known position fixes one of the many variables making it easier to concentrate and control the others. Sometimes you can draw arcs on the floor, with the photographic subject at the center. This controls the distance and means you don’t have to keep testing the lighting setting to compensate for the camera’s position.

So as you can see the the tripod is still a very useful tool. Still not convinced, take a look at this video How to Use a Tripod

In order to find seashells you have to travel. That’s why we referred to our site a sea shells travel. We do love sea shells as well and all the exotic locations we have to go to find then.

And it’s not just hot locations that we go to to get sea shells. Some of our members venture as far north as the Arctic circle to obtain then. There must be rich sources in the Antarctic circle but so far none of us have been there.

Me, well I prefer the warmth. Cold places are nice for Christmas, not walking on a beach in s force ten gale. Makes me shudder just thinking about it.

Sea shells come in a fantastic variety, shapes, colors, sizes. And although they may look the same, each shell is an individual. Made by a mollusks deep in the sea. And as the sea snail, clam, oyster dies it leaves behind it’s little home – its exoskeleton – it’s shell. Washed by the waves of the sea waiting for us to pick it up and add it to our collection. The shells are made from calcium carbonate. Over millions of years these get fused together to create white rocks called limestone. When you look at white cliffs, you’re looking at limestone and when you’re looking at limestone your looking at the exoskeletons of billions and trillions of creatures that were here a long time ago.

We go to many far away beaches, explore caves. We dive, snorkel and walk along many beaches in our endless searches. But we’re not always heading off to holiday destinations, dsome of our best specimens were find right here near our home just a short drive from the coast.

So what’s our new blog about? Well it’s about the shells we find but we also blog about our travels. The people we meet, the food we try and any adventures we have. Well include it all here

We never get bored talking about and showing our collection of sea shells. Each shell has a story. It’s s fascinating hobby.